HD Picture Quality

[redelephants]

Now refresh my memory and tell me what equipment you are using and how it is hooked up. It may be something in the chain between the VIP DVR & the TV set that is causing the problem. Don't leave out the wiring between the equipment either include the brand and model of all of it. I just done' think that the signal is all that is causing the porlbem.

722k via HDMI 51" Hitachi RPTV. Home distribution backfed to CATV panel via diplexer. I am able to see the problem via Home distribution through RF on remote TV. I have tried both HDMI, component and nothing seems to solve the issue. New built home with home run RG6. I didn't have these problems with cable so I don't know what else to do. I hate to say the problem is receiver and wipe out all my stored programs for a receiver swap and that not be the problem. Could the signal coming into receiver have interfernce and cause these problems? I am not quite sure if the problem occurs before being processed in receiver or if receiver is having processing issues. I haven't seen any of these issues be recreated via other video sources (ie DVD, XBOX 360). The only thing I haven't replaced in my setup is barrel connector but I live in a small rural area and would have to order them online. My gut tells me receiver problem, but my gut ain't going to help me out with the wifey when all her stuff gets erased and still same problem. If you aren't seeing these problems then it must be localized to me.

 

[JohnDillinger]

722k via HDMI 51" Hitachi RPTV. Home distribution backfed to CATV panel via diplexer. I am able to see the problem via Home distribution through RF on remote TV. I have tried both HDMI, component and nothing seems to solve the issue. New built home with home run RG6. I didn't have these problems with cable so I don't know what else to do. I hate to say the problem is receiver and wipe out all my stored programs for a receiver swap and that not be the problem. Could the signal coming into receiver have interfernce and cause these problems? I am not quite sure if the problem occurs before being processed in receiver or if receiver is having processing issues. I haven't seen any of these issues be recreated via other video sources (ie DVD, XBOX 360). The only thing I haven't replaced in my setup is barrel connector but I live in a small rural area and would have to order them online. My gut tells me receiver problem, but my gut ain't going to help me out with the wifey when all her stuff gets erased and still same problem. If you aren't seeing these problems then it must be localized to me.

The key element I've yet to see you mention is troubleshooting...
-Have you another HDTV, and have you connected this to the 722k?
-Have you contacted DISH, have a tech come out, and swap another 722k to test IF it is in fact a faulty hardware unit?
-You'd be surprised what an unnoticeable/faulty cable does when it goes undetected.

Watchel is right, 1080i is THE only setting that will show you HD on your old Hitachi.

I have seen anomalies occur where PQ looks like crap no matter what due to your area, or some interference....

Edit: When Dish installed your system, HOW did they do it?
Did they use the preexisting wire, rather than run their own wiring?

If so, THIS may be the problem.

 

[redelephants]

actually 720p will show you high def as well but doesn't make sense to use that setting when 1080i is native display for my hitachi. I don't have another HDTV to use other than that one. Prexisting wiring was used, its obvisously not my tv if i can re-create the problem via home distribution. I have only had this receiver for a few months as it was swapped out due to another issue with the mode button freezing up the receiver. I have had numerous "technicians" at my house and have yet to be satisified with any of there attempts. I have had my dish "tuned" 3 different times. Like I stated, I don't want to swap out a receiver again and lose all my data when I'm not certain its the receiver. I simply dont' know what else it could be though.

 

[JohnDillinger]

actually 720p will show you high def as well but doesn't make sense to use that setting when 1080i is native display for my hitachi. I don't have another HDTV to use other than that one. Prexisting wiring was used, its obvisously not my tv if i can re-create the problem via home distribution. I have only had this receiver for a few months as it was swapped out due to another issue with the mode button freezing up the receiver. I have had numerous "technicians" at my house and have yet to be satisified with any of there attempts. I have had my dish "tuned" 3 different times. Like I stated, I don't want to swap out a receiver again and lose all my data when I'm not certain its the receiver. I simply dont' know what else it could be though.

I don't know what Home Distro means....Is it connected using your RG6 preexisting wiring?

Have those technicians connected brand new wiring FROM the dish to your receiver? I don't think they have and sometimes its the little things we overlook can be the catalyst for unhappiness.

 

[whatchel1]

Won't lose anything

Since you have a 722k if you switch out to another unit you won't lose anything. All you have to do is transfer the stuff on the int HDD to an ext one. Then download all of the timers into your remote control and then you are covered. Have the tech switch out the 2 units and you are done. Oh BTW hive him put in a new run of RG-6 w/ith no barrels in it to cause problems. Then if you still have the problem you know it wasn't the DVR but is most likely the setting that are on the TV you are running. I beginning to think that you may have problem there in that the E* unit doesn't work the same way as the previous cable box. The other units you have DVD & X-box 360 are not HD sources both of these are ED 480p systems.

 

[redelephants]

Since you have a 722k if you switch out to another unit you won't lose anything. All you have to do is transfer the stuff on the int HDD to an ext one. Then download all of the timers into your remote control and then you are covered. Have the tech switch out the 2 units and you are done. Oh BTW hive him put in a new run of RG-6 w/ith no barrels in it to cause problems. Then if you still have the problem you know it wasn't the DVR but is most likely the setting that are on the TV you are running. I beginning to think that you may have problem there in that the E* unit doesn't work the same way as the previous cable box. The other units you have DVD & X-box 360 are not HD sources both of these are ED 480p systems.

Actually Xbox 360 supports full 1080p so yes it is a HD source. BTW unless I have E* enable the HDD I won't be able to transfer the data. I have stored my timers in the remote but will not pay E* any more money for them to enable the ext HDD function to allow them to "try" a receiver swap. The only barrel I have is at the wall plate and grounding block. If E* can't operate with a barrel connector in a wall plate they have major problems.

 

[whatchel1]

How

Actually Xbox 360 supports full 1080p so yes it is a HD source. BTW unless I have E* enable the HDD I won't be able to transfer the data. I have stored my timers in the remote but will not pay E* any more money for them to enable the ext HDD function to allow them to "try" a receiver swap. The only barrel I have is at the wall plate and grounding block. If E* can't operate with a barrel connector in a wall plate they have major problems.

How does the Xbox get 1080p material are some of the games 1080p? Or do you get these on line. I'm not a user of the X-box so as far as iKnew it didn't play HD of any kind since HD-DVD went down the drain.

 

[redelephants]

How does the Xbox get 1080p material are some of the games 1080p? Or do you get these on line. I'm not a user of the X-box so as far as iKnew it didn't play HD of any kind since HD-DVD went down the drain.

Both, games as well as downloadable content. Also my DVD is HDMI 1080i upconvert.

 

[whatchel1]

upconvert

Both, games as well as downloadable content. Also my DVD is HDMI 1080i upconvert.

As you say it is upconvert. That is taking SD or ED material and upconverting to 1080i. That is not true HD. My Yamaha does that to any play out source so I get the same thing that you do from DVD's and they sure don't look HD. So as I said that isn't a true HD source.

 

[primetimeguy]

There isn't a signal booster somewhere in the line is there? Many new homes have all home runs to one panel and have a signal bosster/distribution amp in there.

 

[Mike_H]

I spent some time tonight about 1 foot away from my 57" DLP set and some recordings I have on my 622. It is connected via HDMI.

I checked FoxNewsHD live, and it was pretty bad. Obviously that channel is not a high priority for quality in Dish's mind.
I checked an episode of Fringe that was recorded Over the Air from our local Fox channel. Not a great show to check with since the moving camera, and constant focus changes pervade the show, but it really had excellent detail, in particular the older cast member.
I checked a recording of Gran Torino that was recorded off of Cinemax yesterday. Not bad at all. Nearly as good as Fringe, but there was some softness there and lack of the fine detail that could be seen on the OTA recording.
I then checked the Ultimate Fighter recording from SpikeHD. Really really bad. This was their 3 hour final night event, and the lack of detail was disappointing. From 10 feet back it didn't look too bad. But if it's gonna be HD, it needs to be better.

I'll watch it a bit more closely and make sure I give dish feedback on this kind of stuff. If no one complains to them directly, they'll never know people expect more.

 

[whatchel1]

Material varies

I spent some time tonight about 1 foot away from my 57" DLP set and some recordings I have on my 622. It is connected via HDMI.

I checked FoxNewsHD live, and it was pretty bad. Obviously that channel is not a high priority for quality in Dish's mind.
I checked an episode of Fringe that was recorded Over the Air from our local Fox channel. Not a great show to check with since the moving camera, and constant focus changes pervade the show, but it really had excellent detail, in particular the older cast member.
I checked a recording of Gran Torino that was recorded off of Cinemax yesterday. Not bad at all. Nearly as good as Fringe, but there was some softness there and lack of the fine detail that could be seen on the OTA recording.
I then checked the Ultimate Fighter recording from SpikeHD. Really really bad. This was their 3 hour final night event, and the lack of detail was disappointing. From 10 feet back it didn't look too bad. But if it's gonna be HD, it needs to be better.

I'll watch it a bit more closely and make sure I give dish feedback on this kind of stuff. If no one complains to them directly, they'll never know people expect more.

Also using these different source you may also see the limitations of the quality of the recording of the shows to start with. Isn't Spike a 1080i channel. If so then they UF is being converted from 720p to 1080i. I did a search and it seems to be shot in 720p. I could be wrong but 720p was the only standard I could find listed for it being played anywhere. This may be another conversion problem.

 

[redelephants]

There isn't a signal booster somewhere in the line is there? Many new homes have all home runs to one panel and have a signal bosster/distribution amp in there.

nope no signal boosters. I am going to run a temporary home run rg6 this weekend and see if I have any improvements, if not the only other thing left is receiver swap.

 

[Ronnie-]

As you say it is upconvert. That is taking SD or ED material and upconverting to 1080i. That is not true HD. My Yamaha does that to any play out source so I get the same thing that you do from DVD's and they sure don't look HD. So as I said that isn't a true HD source.

Thats true, except that he can get it on some games and some downloaded as 1080p. The 360 is capable of it on some things. Even then, it can be a true HD source, even if it isnt 1080p, there is other "true" HD content available. Of course not all is.

 

[bthamilton]

Is the output of the 722k been set to 1080i? menu 6-8 tv type what does it say? should be 1080i. If it is anything other than that it is set wrong. Hope this helps.

The receiver is and has been set to 1080i all along.

WITH REGARD TO THE PRIOR POST:

I'm about 10-12 feet away from my tv...which is a little close, but not too close.

I think I had a pretty good installer. He really took a lot of time hooking up 4 rooms for me with 2 receivers. He had Dish himself and had been working for the company for a while (I don't think he was an IC)...

 

[whatchel1]

Making sure

The receiver is and has been set to 1080i all along.

WITH REGARD TO THE PRIOR POST:

I'm about 10-12 feet away from my tv...which is a little close, but not too close.

I think I had a pretty good installer. He really took a lot of time hooking up 4 rooms for me with 2 receivers. He had Dish himself and had been working for the company for a while (I don't think he was an IC)...

Just trouble shooting to make sure.

 

[DishSubLA]

Just to be clear. Dish, at it's best in the past year (it's been better before ) is not even close to the best that HDTV can produce. They use a compression scheme that relies on the ability to throw visual information away, with the idea being that the system throws away only the information that can not be perceived by the human eye. But what one person can see and another person can see can vary widely. As well, dish tends to cut even more data, trying to find a balance between what some people will be unhappy with, and everyone will be unhappy with.

I believe all video production houses, DVD, and the vaunted Blu-ray and OTA digital HD all use lossy compression: it's called MPEG. In other words, the most glorious, magnificent, eye-popping HD or in your word "the best HDTV can produce" was all encoded in lossy MPEG.

Now, bit rate is another matter, and how much of the bandwidth is allocated for what, whether cable spectrum or satellite transponder or OTA spectrum, will also affect HD PQ. A high bit rate (perhaps 19MB) using all the necessary bandwidth will result in your "best HDTV can produce" picture quality using lossy MPEG that you would swear is not encoded with lossy MPEG, but, in fact, it is.

Lossy encoding must be used because if we didn't use lossy encoding we wouldn't be able to transmit it in an efficient way, and we would have fewer channels, which means fewer choice and variety. Whether we are trying to squeeze more data on a satellite transponder or the little Blu-ray disc, both MUST use lossy compression to get all the data to fit. Blu-ray uses higher density, but also MUST use lossy MPEG, or you might have a Blu-ray the size of on old Laserdisc, or one movie on several discs spanned out. In other words, it is all lossy compression. There is lossless encoding out there, but it isn't yet practical for the current demands for live streaming broadcasts.

 

[DishSubLA]

You people need to stop. If someone from Dish reads this they'll think their picture is good enough. Far from it if you ask me, considering I still see differences between OTA and Dish on my locals.

My local OTA direct into TV is actually a bit WORSE than my Dish LIL. Sorry, but Dish seems to give priority to big cities probably to avoid overwhelming his call centers with complaints of poor HD LIL PQ. LA HD LIL's are still SUPERB!

 

[MikeD-C05]

Please explain what the hell is LOSSY mpeg?

 

[Ronnie-]

Please explain what the hell is LOSSY mpeg?

Basically means you lose something in the process.